Jan Brett's "The Easter Egg" & Spring Break

Two more days until glorious spring break!  I am READY!  The kids are ready!  How many of you are on break now or are like me and counting down the days to some relaxation?  My kiddos are in need of a major break from one another.  The tattling and the bickering is insane!  Love them, but I am so ready to load up the family, hit the road and visit my friends on the east coast.

I was trying to think of something new and fun to do with the class that was educational and springy.  I love Jan Brett and her book, The Easter Egg is so adorable and so beautifully illustrated.  I decided to whip up some activities to do with her story.  We will be doing them the next couple days.  Maybe you are like me and you just need a change of pace.  You can pick them up at my TPT store.  Here they are!  Love them and can't wait to use them.

For those of you on spring break, I am beyond jealous.  For those of you just hanging on, bless you!  Hang in there!

Giveaway and Our Valentine's Day

It is freezing in Indiana!  I just signed up to run the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon on May 4th and I needed to start training like yesterday!!!  It is way too cold to be running out there peeps.  It is brutal!  I can't run in Arctic conditions!  It would be like the scene from the movie Dumb and Dumber when they are riding along on their motorcycle with snot frozen to their faces.  No kidding!

Enough about that craziness!  I wanted to announce that Christina over at Apples, Books, and Crayons in having a 100 follower giveaway and she has many great prizes.  Go check out her blog.  http://applesbooksandcrayons.blogspot.com

The valentine madness has ended!  I am so glad.  It is nice to have the kids settle down a bit.  Holidays and celebrations are so fun, but my goodness they wear me out!  Here is a little peek at what we did for Valentine's Day festivities.

We made these large envelopes and did some weaving in order to have a place to put our valentines.  We also made little goody bags for all of our treats.  We used adhesive hearts to make little critters on our bags.

The students rotated through many valentine themed centers during the week.  These centers are from my own Valentine Math & Literacy Pack.  They were a big success!

We used pieces from Cara Carroll's Splat Unit.  LOVE this unit and so did my students.  Who doesn't love a good Splat book?!?!?

I saved the best for last.  My husband has been deployed the entire school year.  It has been very hard trying to teach and raise our girls alone.  My husband is thousands of miles away and managed to surprise me with these beauties!  They are gorgeous and smelled heavenly!  

I hope everyone had the best Valentine's Day!  

Vocabulary "Word Collector"

I am a huge fan of the Daily 5 and Daily CAFE!  I am going to see the sisters in Chicago in April and I can't wait!!!  I am going to be like a 12 year old at a Taylor Swift concert!  They have really changed the way I teach.  I started implementing their practices in my room two years ago and I am loving it!  I wonder how I ever survived before the Daily 5.  

A couple months ago I was on the Daily Cafe website and came across the idea of a "Word Collector"  and thought is sounded brilliant.  I decided to try it out in my room and I am so happy I did.  I use the "Word Collector" whenever we find interesting words during class read-alouds.  The kids love picking out interesting vocabulary and helping me place them on the collector.  It is amazing how this little tool has helped.  The kids use these interesting words in our daily class discussions, in their writing, and during word work and work on writing.  

I couldn't just throw letters on a chart and stick it on the wall.  I had to make it eye appealing, so you can see what I came up with below.  I am happy with it.  Of course, the awful iphone photo doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea.  Do any of you use a "Word Collector" or something similar in your rooms?  I would love to hear your ideas!  If you think you might want the materials to make your own, I have placed this in my TPT store.  Good night all!

By the way, still waiting on that snow day!

Author's Purpose Fun

Is anyone else dying for a snow day!?!  There has been so much sickness in my classroom and in my house that I just need a break!  I feel like I am at the surface of the water trying so hard to keep from drowning.  The papers are piling up, middle of the year assessments to accomplish, and my house looks  AWFUL!!!  I don't even care to pick it up at this point!  Is any of this sounding familiar?

On a brighter note, today we used my Author's Purpose unit to review and expand on our knowledge of author's purpose. First, we reviewed the three reasons why authors write by using these three author's purpose PIEs.

After reviewing the PIEs I placed the children into three groups and they rotated to three different passages.  They read the passage together and discussed why the author wrote the passage.  They recorded their answers into an author's purpose foldable.

Once all the kiddos rotated to all the passages we came back together, discussed our findings, and displayed our answers on the board under the correct purpose.  The children did an excellent job and really enjoyed the activity!

If you would like to pick up this unit you can click on my TPT button and head on over to my store.

Have a wonderful evening blogging buddies and keep your fingers crossed for some snow in the future forecast!

Looking Back to Germany & Math Labels

My husband is in the Air Force and we spent the first 4 years of our marriage overseas, 1 year in South Korea and 3 years in Germany.  I was fortunate enough during this time to be able to teach on the military bases for the Department of Defense.  Many memories were made at these two schools.  I taught amazing military children and taught with the best of the best.  College can never really prepare you for what teaching is really all about.  Teaching is an art and it takes experience to truly grow into an ultimate educator, even for those of us that are born with the natural gift to enrich children.

Purdue University ROCKS!!!  There is no denying that fact, but I owe a majority of my teaching knowledge and skills to those I have taught with and those who have ultimately shaped me into the educator that I am today.  In Germany I taught in a multi-age primary center with two of the most amazing and dedicated woman I have ever met.  Jo-Ann and Lydia are masters in the classroom.  I am blessed to have had them as mentors and they are my inspiration.  Thank you for making me into the teacher I am today!

One of the great practices we used in the Primary Center was Friday "Math Lab".  Every Friday we had parents and student helpers come into our classrooms to assist primary students in math center type activities that were hands on and standards based.  Each center covered a different area of math content.  It was a genius program and allowed children to be exposed to all areas of math throughout the year.  Many math programs only touch on standards here and there.  Math Lab allowed for full exposure year round.

I currently just made new math labels for "math lab" or math centers.  I also made a recording sheet to accompany the labels which can be used for teacher comments or for teachers to initial as students complete a center.  You can see them here and grab them up at my TPT store.

I am super excited to use these labels in my room!  I hope you like them.  Enjoy your evening friends!  

Family Communication

Do you have a weekly newsletter?  A monthly newsletter?  How do you communicate with your families?  I thought I would share how I keep in touch with my families and let them know what is going on in our classroom.  Every Monday I send home a weekly skills sheet that gives a brief explanation of all the skills or activities we will cover for the week.  This year I have a beach theme, so it is called, "Second Grade Seaside Skills."  Here is a peek of my skills sheet for this week.

Now here is a peek of some of my monthly newsletters, "Bryant's Beach Hut News."

I LOVE Scrappin Doodles.  If you like the newsletter headers just head on over to www.scrappindoodles.com and snatch them up!  Enjoy your week!  Can't even believe it is almost February!!!

Valentine Freebie and my Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and when my family had to purchase two packages of 24 candles for my cake, I realized I am getting up there.  I am not that old, it is just starting to register that I am not so young anymore!  On Friday one of my darling kiddos asked how old I was and when I told her I was 34 she gasped!  Yes, I got a gasp, but she made it all better when she said, "I thought for sure you were 25!"  Needless to say I immediately told her to grab her Credit/Debit clipboard and I gave that little sweetie 5 credits!!!!

I have a surprise for you all for my birthday!  I am giving you all a freebie from my Valentine Pack.  It is probably one of my favorite parts.  It is perfect for a writing center or work on writing activity the kiddos can do during Daily 5.  All you have to do is go to my TPT store by clicking on TPT to the right and grab it for free.  Please take a moment to follow my TPT store while you are there.

I hope you enjoy your little freebie!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for stopping by!